


Shallows

by AsagiStilinski



Series: Pridecember 2018 [5]
Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Fae, Alternate Universe - Music, Cello, Dancing, Fae & Fairies, M/M, Music, Musicians, Singing, Violins, ygopridecember2018
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-05
Updated: 2018-12-05
Packaged: 2019-09-12 15:43:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,423
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16875615
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AsagiStilinski/pseuds/AsagiStilinski
Summary: There are many things that Seto Kaiba absolutelywill. not. do.....It's too bad that those things keep getting shot down and reformed by the violinist he's just started working with





	Shallows

**Author's Note:**

> Day five of Pridecember 2018- "Cello"!
> 
> AKA: Atem Is Essentially Lindsey Stirling
> 
> The song is "Shallow" by Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper

Of all the things that Seto Kaiba may have expected when he took this job, _this_ certainly wasn't one of them

He had just assumed that, as per usual, he would record his music in a studio and... that would be it, no fan fare, no participation in the music video- if there even was one- nothing else to do with the album, just a short stint in the studio and nothing more

He should have known better working with a YouTuber

"You're Seto Kaiba, right?"

Why he had come out to the desert two days after recording, he wasn't sure, all he knew was that he had been asked to do this for the job, and Seto took himself seriously as a cellist, he wasn't going to argue with his employer- _yet_

Not without reason, that would be unprofessional

"Yes," he answered blandly, leaning his cello case against the trailer he was standing next to and taking a look at the man in front of him

He was short, with beautifully dark tan skin and bright garnet eyes, and the craziest hair Seto had ever seen- and that was really saying something

But blonde, purple, and black, all in spikes, was just not something he saw everyday

It was pretty hard to top that hair, but the outfit he was wearing was even more rediculous, Seto was pretty sure they called it "steampunk"- Victorian fashion mixed with metal and gears and he wasn't quite sure what

Huh

"It's a pleasure to meet you, my name is Atem," the stranger introduced, smiling as he held his hand out towards the cellist

Atem... ah...

He remembered that name, it was pretty hard to forget, Atem was the violinist that hired him

He had seen a few of the guy's videos just for reference's sake before auditioning, and he had to admit, he was fairly talented

A great violinist who did alot of unique music, and a dancer at that

He even sang sometimes

It took alot to impress Seto, but he was willing to admit that this guy was impressive

That would explain the get-up too

Atem's videos were always fantasy themed of some sort, magical or mystical or even sci-fi, steampunk didn't surprise him at this point

"Please tell me I'm not just here for a meet-and-greet," the cellist remarked, reaching out with some minor reluctance and giving Atem's hand a firm shake

"Did Joey not tell you?"

"Tell me what?"

"That we need you for the video?"

No, evidently, Joey did _not_ tell him

"I already recorded my part, I don't know why-"

"Well the theme of the video is violin versus cello, so I need you to play my rival,"

Oh no way in hell

"I think an actor would be better off for that particular skill set,"

"Actors don't typically know how to play the cello so I disagree, it would look in accurate, and we don't have time to search for someone new anyway, coming out here for this video is taking alot of time and money as it is,"

"Look, I play music, I don't have any reason to be on screen, I never have been, and I never will be, it just isn't part of my- albeit broad- skillset,"

Atem stared at him for a few moments, before leaning back on his feet and crossing his arms over his chest

"You really don't want to be in the video?"

"No, I don't,"

And yet-

 

**Two months later...**

"Seto! The steampunk video we did has cracked twelve million veiws!!"

Seto didn't even bother looking up from his sheet music, trying his hardest to figure out exactly what kind of torment Atem was putting him through this time

There was nothing that was too complicated for him to play, mind you, but he still couldn't help wishing every now and then that the violinist would take it easy on the crazy

"That's great, please don't tell me you're really planning on us being underwater for the next one,"

When he didn't hear a verbal response, he merely looked up from his music, glared at the innocent expression on Atem's face, and cursed ever hearing about the audition for that video of his from a couple of months back

 

~+~

 

As it turns out, when Seto auditioned to play on _one_ of Atem's songs, he unknowingly auditioned to be a permanent fixture of his background band

_Lovely_

In all honesty, Seto _was_ happy to have the stable job, he liked the traveling and experiencing aspects of being an independent musician, but being a part of Atem's team permanently allowed him the opportunity to experience that _and_ have some stability as well

He would never admit it, ofcourse, but he was happy for the way things turned out

....

Most of the time

" _No_ ,"

"Oh come now Seto, it isn't that big of a deal,"

"You want to light a circle of _fire_ around me, what part of that is not a big deal!?"

"It isn't as though it will actually touch you,"

" _NO_!"

 

~+~

 

There were some things that Seto Kaiba would not do- end of story

No arguing, no negotiating, no possibilities, just _no_

And dancing was one of those things

"Absolutely not,"

"Seto please, I need a partner!"

"Then ask someone else,"

"It would make more sense if it were you because of where the cello comes in with the percussion!"

Seto looked rather skeptical, his face deadpanned as he stared at the violinist and the eager, hopefull look on his face

He hated to crush that hope, but there was just no way in _hell_ he was going to do this

"And how would you propose I play wile dancing? A cello isn't like a violin, it isn't like I can hold it wile I move around, unless you haven't noticed the considerable size difference,"

And that size difference was something that he hadn't heard the end of since joining Atem's little team

The fact that he played cello and Atem played violin, and their height differences were so... _proportionate_... to their instruments, had apparently been a fact not lost on _anyone_

He heard about it often

Some had started calling them The Faery and The Giant

_Ugh_

"Well for one thing neither of us will be playing during the _entire_ video, we'll only have a few scenes with our instruments, and secondly, you can do more than you think movement wise wile merely standing or even sitting in place, believe me,"

"I am not going to dance,"

Atem smiled at him, sweetly, adoringly, blinking his huge garnet eyes up at him

Seto was not amused, impressed, or willing to change his mind

" _No_ ,"

 

**One hour later...**

"Then when I pirouette towards you, you reach your arm out and catch mine, and bring me up against your chest, easy right?"

No

No it was not easy

No part of this was easy

He really was starting to understand why people referred to Atem as a faery, with how he moved, the litheness of his body, the ease in wich he danced...

It was ... it was practically _supernatural_

But Seto wasn't going to actually say or even imply that, as far as he was concerned, there was nothing he didn't have atleast some level of natural skill at and he refused to consider otherwise

As far as he was concerned, he could pull this off, he just needed the right practice

"Got it," he said with a curt nod

"If you'd like, we'll film your scenes with your cello first, so that you have more time to get used to moving around to a rythem, if you'll unpack it now I can show you how to move your hips the way I like,"

There were a few snickers coming from the crew members around them, apparently catching the double entendre that Atem himself had missed

Set hadn't missed it, how could he possibly have missed it?

"Sure," he muttered quietly, clearing his throat, his face slightly red as he undid the latches on his cello case and glanced over his shoulder at Atem

He was just wearing a thin, loose, sweat shirt and some sweat pants, but he couldn't resist noticing how beautifull he was even in that moment

"Ah, perfect," the violinist mused absently, taking a few steps closer to the cellist and carefully positioning his hands on Seto's waist, then moving them slowly down to his hips, resting his hands there as he glanced up at the other with seriousness

"Now when the main hook comes in, I want you to move your hips like this, alright?"

Ah... now Atem was squeezing his hips, forcing them to move....

He was barely holding himself together as it was and now-

Wait a minute, how in the hell had he even gotten into this situation!?

 

~+~

 

Ok, so apparently Seto could officially check "dancing" off on the list of things he would do in the right circumstances

Great

He had been with Atem and his little team for about eight months now and he so far had managed to check off four or five of the things on his "Never under any circumstances will I do this" list and move them right over to the "Apparently if Atem asks and pouts enough I will, under some circumstances, do this" list

Including but not limited to:

Dancing

Watching a Tinkerbell movie

And showering in a locker room- that last one having been necessary on more than one occasion

Atleast it hadn't been all bad, he liked being close with Atem, even if he did still hate dancing, he liked spending time with Atem, even if he had to endure some truly rediculous movies as a result, and as for the showering.... well, he liked not having to go home when he was covered in sweat or dirt or salt water or a combination of the three...

And he would be lying if he'd said he hadn't enjoyed that one time when he accidentally glimpsed Atem's bare backside and got a full veiw of the beautifull wings tattooed across his upper back.... you know, among... other things.....

Regardless, he was breaking alot of his rules because of Atem and he wasn't that happy about it

But the one thing he had so far managed to keep himself from doing- the one thing he had stuck PROUDLY to his guns about- was singing

Seto Kaiba did not sing

Would not sing

Could not sing

He had never really tried in all honesty, it just... wasn't his cup of tea

He found it a little too humiliating to put himself out there that way, it was too emotional, it opened him up to too many vulnerabilities

It wasn't like the cello where he didn't have to put _himself_ into it, where he could keep a sheild in front of him, where he could express himself through a sort of... filter

Singing was raw, it was entirely him, there was no refinement, no way to become good at it if you weren't naturally talented, because all of the lessons in the world wouldn't fix an ugly voice

And he was pretty sure that his was one such case......

Well, he didn't want to mess with it anyway

Atleast, that's what he had said for the last twenty-one years when asked if he would sing for people

But then, Atem had always been much more than just "people"

\--

_"I'm off the deep end, watch as I dive in_  
I'll never meet the ground  
Crash through the surface, where they can't hurt us  
We're far from the shallows now," 

Ah... that was wrong....

Usually Seto didn't stop off to listen to Atem rehearse, he liked to be alone when he was rehearsing his voice- wich was rare, as, typically, when he did sing, it was relatively small parts and he rehearsed at home, but apparently something had driven him to take on a bit more of an ambitious challenge

_"In the shallows, shallows_  
In the shallows, shallows  
In the shallows, shallows-" 

Ah, he really couldn't stand by and listen to him continue to screw up like this

Wasn't it practically his _job_ as part of this ... _whatever_ Atem wanted to call them to correct his fellow musicians when they screwed up?

So, without further contemplation, he wordlessly slipped into the rehearsal room that Atem was using and padded quietly over to him

"It's _shallow_ , not _shallows_ ,"

Atem jumped, his face slightly pink as he spun around and stared up at the cellist

"S-Seto? What-"

"You're saying 'shallows', plural, it's 'shallow' singular,"

"O-Oh..." Atem mumbled quietly, staring at the cellist for a few moments before apparently coming to some sort of realization and tilting his head

"This didn't strike me as your type of music, how do you know it so well?" he asked teasingly

"Hard to escape it these days," Seto shrugged back easily

He wasn't sure how much Atem believed him but it was the best excuse he had

Atem was right, this typically wasn't his style of music at all, but he had heard it on a commercial once and... _well_

"So, what did you say I was doing wrong?"

"You're getting the lyrics wrong, it should be 'shallow'- singular, you're using 'shallows'- plural,"

"Right," Atem said slowly, nodding as he stared down at his violin, his eyes flicking up to Seto again after a second

"Do you want to help me practice?"

"Do you need the cello right now?"

"No I meant... singing,"

Seto scoffed, eyes rolling as he crossed his arms over his chest and stared at the musician across from him

"I don't sing,"

"Oh come now Se-"

"I'm serious, I won't do it, I'm not going to sing and nothing you do can convince me otherwise,"

Atem was quiet for a few moments, staring at him, just.... staring.... before giving a small shrug of his shoulders and shifting a little

"Get your cello, please, I want to rehearse this,"

Seto wasn't _at all_ confident that this little matter was settled, but he figured he should go along with things until it came up again, to prevent Atem from arguing about it a second time in a row

He was still for a few more moments before reluctantly heading out, grabbing his cello from the recording booth across the hall where he had been earlier and making his way back to Atem's rehearsal room

_"Tell me something girl,_  
Why aren't you happy in the modern world?  
Only you need more  
Is there something else worth searching for?" 

Oh that was... that was... _terrible_

Not the singing- the singing was beautifull, as always, Atem's voice was truly outstanding, but the lyrics... they were all over the place

Had he studied these at all!?

_"I'm falling  
And in the good times I find myself longing for a change-"_

Oh this truly _must_ stop

"Stop, stop, stop," he said immediately, practically crashing back into the rehearsal and glaring at Atem, who seemed none the wiser to the ... _problems_ he was causing

"You've got those lyrics all wrong, did you study them at all?"

"I did, I don't understand... what's wrong with them?"

What was wrong with them?

_What was wrong with them?_

"Do you have an hour?" Seto huffed in annoyance

"Seto are you going to help me or not?"

Oh.... oh how he wished he could just say _no_ but....

"There's no 'why', it's 'are' not 'aren't', it's 'or', not 'only', there's-"

"Wait wait... I can't keep up with all of this, why don't you just say the entire thing? Line by line, so that I can understand,"

"Because that's annoying, why don't you just try listening to it again?"

"Well I don't have the CD on me, and even if I did, don't you reason that I would just hear it the same way I did the first time?"

Well, he supposed that was a good point....

He wasn't even going to touch the fact that Atem was living in the 21st century and still using CDs instead of digital music

He didn't even have a cell phone for the gods' sake

_UGH_

"Come on Seto, just.... help me, please?"

Sighing loudly, the cellist rolled his eyes- _hard_ \- and slowly shuffled closer, practically glaring as he sat down and positioned his cello, glancing at the sheet music Atem had taken the liberty of printing for him and starting to play, the violin coming in soon after the cello had started

Why was he doing this?

Why didn't he just say no again?

Why did he always have such a hard time saying no to Atem?

He was.... _anxious_

He wasn't used to singing, not even when he was alone, much less around other people...

_"Tell me something girl_  
Are you happy in this modern world?  
Or do you need more?  
Is there something else you're searching for?" 

He wasn't looking up, he wasn't, he wasn't going to look at Atem, he was just... staring at the floor

If he didn't look up, he couldn't see how humiliating Atem's expression was

One of pity, or amusement, or horror, or......

He wasn't sure, but it couldn't be good

_"I'm falling_  
In all the good times I find myself longing for change  
And in the bad times I fear myself," 

The music continued, no one spoke, and he was suddenly unsure of what to do, did Atem expect him to take on the next verse too?

Was he supposed to sing this entire song?

Or did he have some way in mind to signal when he was supposed to take over?

And more over, why was he singing in the first place?

Didn't he explicitly say-

_"Tell me something boy_  
Aren't you tired of trying to fill that void?  
Or do you need more?  
Ain't it hard keeping it so hardcore?" 

Ah... apparently that answered that question

And those lyrics were _flawless_ at that

Swallowing tightly, the cellist felt his cheeks beginning to heat up, his heart beating a little bit faster, a little bit harder, as he turned his attention up to the violenist, finally locking eyes with him

Atem looked _thrilled_

He looked happy, he looked like he was having a good time, like he was enjoying this, like he was impressed- almost- and he definitely wasn't staring at Seto in any way that could be conceived as humiliating....

Hell there was practically a _glow_ around him

It was all a little... strange.... honestly

Strange and unexpected

But then that was Atem for you- the _king_ of strange and unexpected, as was their relationship, as it always had been...

He hadn't even noticed at this point, when Atem had started singing again

_"I'm off the deep end, watch as I dive in_  
I'll never meet the ground  
Crash through the surface, where they can't hurt us  
We're far from the shallow now," 

Oh, good, he had remembered...

"This is the part where they do the duet, you know,"

Was Atem expecting-?

_"In the shallow, shallow  
In the shallow, shallow,"_

....

He supposed, since he already broke his vow about not singing, it wouldn't _really_ damage him too badly to go on....

_"In the shallow, shallow  
In the shallow, shallow,"_

And when Atem started in on his own again, Seto found himself.... _mesmerized_

There was definitely a glow to him now, something that the cellist couldn't put his finger on, something... _magical_ , something he had never seen before, and he could _swear_ that he could see the outline of wings pressing against the back of Atem's shirt

_Actual_ wings, not his tattoos

He couldn't take his eyes off of Atem, he couldn't stop staring at him, he couldn't do anything but watch in awe

...

At first

But as it went on, by the time he had started edging nearer and nearer to the second duet, Seto found himself leaning in closer, moving forward and suddenly pressing his lips against Atem's

It was.... _strange_

It was odd

It felt almost as if the song had compelled him to do it, it was as though there was just something indescribable about this song that made him _crave_ the violinist even more than usual

And Atem was kissing back, in a silent room, wrapping his arms around Seto's neck, instruments long forgotten as he surged closer

There were many things that Seto Kaiba _still_ wouldn't do

He could now officially cross falling in love with a musician off of that list


End file.
